


What Mrs Bramford Saw

by Janie_17



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3133313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janie_17/pseuds/Janie_17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"As an old woman living alone, Millie Bramford took quite an interest in the lives of her neighbours. Some would say that she took a little too much interest in their lives..." Same 'verse as Beginnings but can be read separately.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: In chapter 12 of my story Beginnings, Jack and Ianto are interrupted by the little old lady that lives down the hall from Ianto as they are making out. I absolutely loved her and couldn’t find a way to fit more of her in so I decided to do a story from her point of view, and this is what happened. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or its characters, but I do lay claim to Mrs Bramford because I totally made her up on my own. Like, I didn’t even get help naming her. So yeah.

Captain was quite the outgoing sort, and charming to boot, which pleased her to no end. He had even flirted with her a little, a thrill for someone of her age. This made her wonder if he As an old woman living alone, Millie Bramford took quite an interest in the lives of her neighbours. Some would say that she took a little too much interest in their lives, but she preferred not to think about that. One neighbour who always intrigued her was the young man three doors down from her that lived alone. 

When she had first seen Ianto Jones she had thought him to be much older than he truly was at the time. His air of professionalism and well-tailored suits had caused her confusion. He even carried boxes up the stairs with the air of someone more mature in years. A closer look, and a few well worded questions, had told her that he was, in fact, only twenty-four. That had really sparked her interest. Why did a young man who worked at the Tourism Office on the plass need to wear such fine suits every day, she wondered. 

As intriguing as his odd fashion choices were, what she wondered about the most was that he was always alone. In fact, having decided—without his knowledge of course—to look out for the nice boy and try to introduce him to others in the building, it made her quite worried. Though she never had children, she knew what men that age were like. Even the reserved ones would have dates stay the night or friends have friends over for rugby games. But nothing of the sort ever happened at the flat down the hall. Not even the sister he had mentioned in passing had come round to visit. 

This is why Mrs Millie Bramford had been so giddy to stumble upon Ianto and his gentleman friend in the hall one night. The American would be good for her young neighbour, maybe pull him out of his shell a little. 

As the weeks passed she kept an eye out for their comings and goings. She was pleased to see the younger man become more relaxed in his manner the more time the handsome pair spent together. She was also pleased to see a little Asian woman, a co-worker, Ianto had explained, visiting with increasing frequency. 

It truly warmed her heart to see the quiet boy enjoying life a little. Seeing a bit of colour in his cheeks and hearing his bright laughter as the Captain walked him to his door was more than she would have ever dared to ask for. As happy as she was for that sweet boy, she was still going to watch out for him. Just in case his American friend did something to hurt him, that is.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: This is set after Jack leaves with the Doctor.

Knowing that Ianto Jones had the strangest schedule at the Tourism Office that she had ever heard, it didn’t surprise Millie if their paths didn’t cross for a few days if she didn’t go out of her way to make them cross. However, as things were lately, it was a surprise to see him without his American for more than a couple days. 

It had been almost two weeks since she had seen the two together and she was really starting to worry. She had seen no signs of trouble between the boys last time they talked, though that didn’t mean something couldn’t have happened. It just seemed strange. The last time they had fought there had been a loudly slammed door and an American voice shouting some not nice things but it had been followed the next day with take out and a sheepish apology, which she had observed from the stairwell, not wanting to walk past and interrupt them. 

Deciding it was time to figure it out once and for all, she invited Ianto to have a cup of tea with her. She was shocked to see that the usually perfectly put together young man looked as if he hadn’t bothered to get dressed, let alone shower, for a few days. His face was blotchy, as if he had been crying and she noticed the way his shoulders slumped, curling forward tightly. He had politely declined her offer, insisting that he had the flu. She suggested that he get his young man to come take care of him. Her words were met with a shudder before he murmured his need to return to bed. 

She was deeply saddened by that encounter with her young neighbour. She could tell that he was in pain, and not from any flu. It seemed as if his heart had been ripped from his body, leaving a hole for all the world to see. 

A couple of days passed and it seemed as if Ianto had not moved on, but instead moved backwards. Though she would never have called him easy-going, for that time when the Captain was around, it was as if the young man had been able to smile. Truly smile, not the sad, strange twitch around the mouth that she had so often seen him give to be polite. He was back to speaking only when spoken to and never quite meeting the eyes of others. 

It hurt to see Ianto retreat into himself like that again. She shivered in response to the cold and hollow look in his eyes when she asked how he was doing one day. It was then that Millie Bramford knew she would give that American a strong piece of her mind if he ever showed up again after hurting such a sweet boy so badly.


	3. Chapter 3

A few months had passed since Millie had last seen the handsome American man, and she was beginning to think he wouldn’t be returning. Which was all well and good, except she desperately ached to give him a strong telling off. Each time she saw Ianto she was once again startled by how hollow he looked, as if his insides had been ripped from him. Oh, he hid it well, polite as ever to those he spoke with, feigning interest in the conversation, but she could see beneath it. She could tell that the charming exterior was only a front for the deep pain he felt. Pain which, she knew, he would never speak of. 

This is why she was so shocked to open the stairwell door to find herself face to face with the Captain. “You!” she exclaimed venomously, finger jabbing his chest. 

“Mrs Bramford,” he said cautiously, his patent grin faltering. “How good to see you again.” 

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that flashy American charm this time! Oh no! And I can’t believe you have the gall to show your face here again! Not after what you put poor Ianto through. Months with no word!” The small woman was shaking with fury. Jack’s eyes grew wide as he took a half step backwards, away from her. 

“I tried to call,” he said. 

“Tried!? If you ever cared for the boy you would have _tried_ a lot harder! You broke that poor child and all you can say is that you _tried_ to call?” Her breath came in angry huffs as she watched to man before her struggle to find his words. 

“I-I broke him?” he stuttered. The anguish on his face tamed her anger some. 

Voice softer, Millie sighed, “What did you expect? When he was with you it was as if he had blossomed, no longer so painfully shy and quiet. In the time I’ve known him it was the only time I saw him give an honest smile.” A slight smile drifted over her features at the memory of her young neighbour and friend so happy before her expression hardened. “But now…” she let her voice trail off, unable to truly capture Ianto’s retreat from himself with words. 

“I didn’t mean for this to happen. To be gone so long. I—”

“Enough,” she snapped, cutting him off. “I’m not the one you should be apologising to.” She eyed him cautiously. “That is what you are here for, correct? To grovel?” 

“Well, er…not exactly.” The man who usually appeared so unflappable visibly flinched at her glare. “We sort of have a date.” 

“You don’t deserve for him to take you back. He is too good.” 

“I know. But that’s why I’m not letting him go again. Because if I do I may lose him forever.” 

“And it’d be nothing less than you deserve.” 

“I know that too,” he replied, offering a sad smile. 

“Well, then don’t forget it, because I won’t. And the next time you do something like this again you will get a lot more than just a piece of my mind!” she said smacking him hard with her handbag to emphasize the warning. 

“I will hold you to that.” He skirted around her and into the hallway. “Have a good evening, ma’am.” 

She watched as he walked down the hall, stopping at Ianto’s door. He rearranged his features into a subdued grin before knocking on the door. From where she stood, Millie Bramford could see the quick parade of emotions that flew across Ianto’s face when he opened the door. Joy and disbelief melded together before morphing into wary acceptance. He quickly wiped his face blank, gesturing for the other man to enter. The older man pulled from his pocket what looked suspiciously like a bag of coffee beans, to her.


	4. Chapter 4

“Goodbye boys! Have a lovely evening,” Millie waved, smiling. Their paths had crossed as she had been walking down the hall to her door and had stumbled across Ianto and his handsome friend heading the opposite way. 

It warmed her heart as she watched them walk away hand in hand. They seemed so content with one another. The sight brought her back 50 years to when she was just about Ianto’s age and had also been seeing an older man. She laughed at the thought. Edgar Bramford had been thirty when they had started seeing each other and at the time, she thought the four year age difference had been an enormous gap to bridge. Now she saw that age difference in a totally different light. And that light had been shed by Captain Harkness and his affections for her young neighbour. 

Really, she wondered, how did a forty some-odd year old man end up with a twenty-five year old child? The Tourism Office must be a very strange place indeed, she concluded. As she pulled out the old photo album she kept behind the books she chuckled knowing the commotion she would have caused if the pair had been privy to her thoughts. She had once observed the worry and annoyance sketched across the older man’s face when Ianto had referred to him as an old man some evening. And Ianto; a sweet boy but always acting far older and wiser than anyone his age should need to be. No, they would certainly not have taken kindly to her thoughts on their ages. 

She pulled a photo album from the bookcase, flipping through the images with a fond smile. Eventually she came to the one she was looking for. It showed a pretty girl smiling at the camera and a dashing man smiling at her. It had been taken, she recalled, by a friend a few days before Edgar had proposed to her. She ran her thumb across the rings on her finger, enjoying the familiar feel of the smooth gold bands. They had been so young and in love then. And by the time Edgar had died the only thing that had changed was that they were now old and in love. 

She sighed, pulling herself out of her reminisces to think again on the boys. She hoped that Ianto had found in Jack his own Edgar, although she still worried about the time he had left him so unexpectedly. They had never really told her what happened. Only, the captain had continued to look pained and guilty, accepting full blame for any wrong done each time it was mentioned. Ianto, however, baffled her. He seemed to insist that there was nothing the other man could have done otherwise in the situation. She knew there was a story there but had resigned herself to not knowing, as they were both in the habit of being very tight-lipped with details.

She shut the album still in her hands slowly. Running her fingers over the fragile spine, she sent out a silent prayer to the powers that be, hoping the best for Jack and Ianto. She knew if they had even half of the love that she had with Edgar, they would make it through anything. And if the look in the older man’s eyes when he watched his young companion was anything to go by, they would be fine.


End file.
